Chinese Alphabet A 月

月 (yuè) Moon

Picture a crescent moon and you have a Chinese pictorial symbol of the moon. The first and the second strokes form the outline of the moon. The third and fourth strokes are two horizontal lines within the outline. Remember to make two strokes by relating to the fact that the moon is the second brightest object in the sky.

What is the brightest object in the sky? The sun, of course. The Chinese character for the sun is 日 (rì). It looks like a rectangular outline of the sun with one horizontal line within. Think of it to represent the number one brightest object. When you write this character, make sure it’s tall, not wide and not square. If you write it like this: 曰, with its width greater than its height, then it’s a different character with a different meaning. 曰 (yuē) means “say.” You see this most often in the Analects of Confucius (論語, Lúnyǔ). In this book there are hundreds of sentences the start with 子曰 (zǐ yuē), meaning “Confucius says . . .” The first character 子 (zǐ) represents 孔子 (Kǒngzǐ), which is Confucius.

月 (yuè) also means month. We will see this character again later.

What happens when you combine the sun and the moon, the brightest and the second brightest objects in our sky, into one character, like this, 明 (míng)? You get a character that means bright or clear!

How about placing two moons next to each other, like this, 朋? 朋 (péng) means friend or companion.

Take Chinese Alphabet with you everywhere you go.

Introducing Chinese Alphabet Translator iOS app:

You can now translate directly from written English to the Chinese “alphabet.” Type English sentences and this app will translate them to a Chinese “alphabet.” You can then e-mail the translation or copy and paste it to your own notes or documents. It's the complete Good Characters’ Chinese Alphabet in your pocket or backpack that you have access to offline anywhere and anytime, even without an Internet connection.

About Chinese Alphabet

Symbols were selected based on their visual similarity to corresponding English alphabet letters. Only real Chinese characters are used. Only characters that are positive or neutral in meaning are included.

The translation provided by Chinese Alphabet is intended for personal use and entertainment only. Not recommended for tattoo artists to use this to tattoo their clients, iPhone app developers to localize Chinese apps, CIA agents to communicate national secrets, or security professionals to encrypt passwords.